


Stark Family Christmas

by Ana (Anafandom)



Series: Second Chances [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Civil War Team Iron Man, F/M, Gen, Team Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 04:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17155601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anafandom/pseuds/Ana
Summary: It's Christmas and the Starks and friends have a lot to celebrate.





	Stark Family Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, Happy Christmas/ holiday of your choice! Man, has it been a whole year already? It feels like yesterday that I posted a fic on Christmas. Wow. You guys have continued to be incredible, so here’s a little Christmas fluff as a gift to all of you. Thank you!
> 
> I was going to post this as part of “Stark Family Moments”, but it would have messed up the chronology, so it’s a oneshot. I’ve updated the series description to include a timeline for this ‘verse. You can check that out if you’re interested. Please note that this takes place before Journey of Discovery.

December 16th had been, for the last 30 years, a terrible day. A day of grief, anger and mourning. Tony had mostly dealt with the day (and the accompanying holidays) by hitting the bottle hard in order to forget all his pain and regret. This year, however, was going to be different. This year he didn’t have the shadow of his parents’ death hanging over his head. This year there was no sorrow for words said and those left unsaid. This time he had his parents back, and he was actually looking forward to the holiday season.

So when December 16th rolled around, Tony went straight to his parents’ apartment to spend the day marveling at their miraculous return.

He found his mom in the midst of doing Christmas decorations, having roped a somewhat whining Howard to help her.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” his father said, dropping the armful of ornaments he was carrying and making his way over to Tony. “We have to finish that… thing.” He inclined his head slightly in Maria’s direction. His whole posture screamed ‘help me’.

“Thing? What thing? I don’t remember any ‘thing’.” Never let it be said that Tony Stark couldn’t be a little shit when the mood struck. Howard’s annoyed expression was priceless and totally worth it.

“Come and help us, honey,” Maria called, giving Howard a disapproving look.

Tony grinned. “Sure, mom. Whatever you say.”

Tony spent the rest of the morning basking in his parents’ presence, smiling fit to burst the entire time.

At lunch, they started making plans for Christmas. Maria wanted to host a party for the Avengers and the rest of Tony’s friends.

“That’s a great idea, mom. I’ll tell everyone, though some of them might have other plans.” He was thinking mostly of Hope, who might want to spend the holidays with her father now that they were trying to work things out. Strange also might have family he wanted to visit – or just hang out with his sorcerer buddies. May and Peter Parker would probably come, he thought. Peter had told Tony, last time they’d talked, that it was usually just the two of them.

“Well, if some people can’t make it on the 24th we can do it earlier.”

“I’ll check, then.”

It was when they were cleaning up – and Tony was no doubt looking a bit dopey watching his mom loading dishes into the dishwasher – that Howard remembered.

“Oh, shit, it’s today.”

Maria turned to him. “What?”

“December 16th. That’s the day we left for that trip.” _The day we died_.

“Oh. I hadn’t… I hadn’t realized.”

“Don’t think about it, mom. You’re here. Alive. That’s all that matters now.” Tony reached out and hugged his mom. “You’re here. I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

Tony couldn’t really stop the tears. It still took him by surprise sometimes, this miracle. The sheer wonder of having his mom and dad restored to him after all that time. A part of him was still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for them to be snatched away once more. Right now, though, he put that aside and focused on his gratitude and joy for their presence.

“We’re not going anywhere, honey,” his mom said, as if she could read his mind. It wasn’t a promise she could really keep – not any more than he could promise to always be safe – but he was comforted by it anyway.

After a while soaking up his mom’s warmth and love, Tony gently disengaged and took a step back, looking around for his father. Howard was standing a bit further away, watching them with an expression Tony couldn’t quite figure out. Years ago, he would have interpreted it as a criticism, thinking that Howard was dissatisfied by Tony’s emotional display. He knew better now.

“Dad?”

Howard gave him a sad smile, then came forward to hug Tony. “I still don’t know if I’m doing this right,” he told Tony, “but I’m going to keep trying. I love you, son.”

“I love you too, dad. And you’re doing fine. You don’t have to be perfect.” No one was perfect, and it wasn’t fair of Tony to expect his parents to be. “You just need to be here.”

“I will.”

Yeah, things were looking good this year.

*****

For the first time in years, there was a great deal of Christmas cheer around. The entire Tower was awash in joyful spirits. Maria and Friday had teamed up to decorate not just his parents’ apartment, but the penthouse and even the labs. Tony walked into his workshop a couple of days later to find Dum-E and U, under Friday’s directions, hanging up lights and garlands all over the place. The bots even had on Santa hats on their ‘heads’ and beeped Christmas carols when he came in.

“Wow. You’re going all out, huh?” he told them with a fond smile. The decorations were placed a little haphazardly, but who cared? It was the thought that counted.

“Do you like it, Boss?”

“Yeah, Fri. It’s great.”

“It is satisfying to see you getting into the Christmas spirit, Sir,” Jarvis told him.

“We have a lot of celebrate this year, kids.”

“Indeed.”

*****

On Christmas Eve, the penthouse was decorated to within an inch of its life. Tony had never seen so much Christmas stuff anywhere he had ever lived.

Jarvis and Vision had selected a _huge_ tree. It had only gotten into the Tower due to a combination of Vision’s superhuman strength and flying ability, ‘cause there was no way that thing would have fit through the door. It was not Vision’s first Christmas, but it might as well be judging by the way he was giving it his all. Jarvis, for his part, had always been aware of Tony’s issues with the holiday, and seemed determined to make this one into a new happy tradition.

Dum-E and U had gone nuts on the parts of the tree they could reach, throwing in lights, balls and all kinds of weird ornaments. There were, in fact, New Avengers Christmas ornaments. Tony had no idea who had come up with them or whose idea it’d been to buy them, but there they were. Iron Man, War Machine, Hulk, Wasp, Vision and Strange as garish little figurines, all of them complete with Santa hats (in case people missed their purpose in life, Tony guessed). They were extremely tacky and Tony had fallen immediately in love.

The upper half of the tree had been left for Vision (again, being able to fly was a huge advantage). He’d gone with the traditional angel and star at the top, and little Santas and candy canes spread throughout. Then everyone else had gotten involved, bringing some or their own decorations to contribute.

Peter’s handmade ornaments had been added all over (sticking to walls was useful for decorations too). Hope had brought some of hers as well, which, while also clearly done by a child, were rather more well put together than Peter’s – not that it mattered, of course, but little Hope had had some talent as an artist. Rhodey had brought some of his mom’s decorations, the ones Tony had seen at the Rhodes’ many times over the years. Bruce had added some sledges and reindeer ornaments he’d probably found a thrift shop somewhere. Pepper’s contributions were several small angels she’d had since college, and Happy had brought stars and trees with the SI logo on them, which Tony thought was funny. Strange’s ornaments were shaped like various human organs and had been a joke present from a college roommate.

The overall effect was… well, a bit messy, but Tony loved it.

Sadly, he didn’t have any decorations of his own to contribute, having destroyed pretty much all his old stuff in a fit of alcohol induced grief years ago. So he’d rigged up an awesome light system for the whole apartment, with snow flake effects and music. It was pretty awesome if he said so himself.

Maria had refused to even entertain the idea of catering and insisted that they should have a home-cooked meal. To Tony’s surprise, everyone had readily agreed. Tony, Pepper, May, Hope, Bruce and Howard had each been put in charge of a dish according to their skills. Happy and Strange were responsible for drinks. Strange’s friend Wong and Vision set the table while Peter had been tasked with keeping the bots (and Cloak) entertained so they wouldn’t try to ‘help’ too much. Friday and Jarvis had ordered everything and helped everyone stay on track since they couldn’t physically do anything. (Well, they could have borrowed a Legionnaire, but those had not been built for delicate work.)

Despite Tony’s concern that something would go wrong, dinner was ready on time and everything was actually delicious.

Sitting at the table, surrounded by his friends and family – all of them laughing and enjoying themselves – Tony felt extraordinarily blessed. He tapped his glass and waited for everyone to turn to him.

“Hmm,” he began a bit uncertainly. He was usually more eloquent, but things that hit closer to home were always harder. “I… I just wanted to say that… uhm… I’m really glad to have you all here tonight to celebrate Christmas. It’s been... an eventful few years.” More like a decade, really. “With good and bad. So, I want to take the time to acknowledge the good. Which would be… well, all of you. Being here. Being happy.

“Rhodey, Pepper, Happy…” Tony turned to each of them with a smile. “You guys have been around for a long time, through some pretty bad shit. I really appreciate the fact that you stuck around despite it all, even when I was pushing you away. I know I haven’t always been good at saying it, but it really means a lot to me, your friendship.

“Jarvis, Friday, Vision, Dum-E, U…” The bots came closer, their cameras trained on him. “You’re my kids – unconventional as you might be – and I love all of you. You are each uniquely special and I’m ridiculously proud of you.

“Bruce, Hope, Strange… It’s been great working with you guys like a real team. I’ve learned a lot from you and I hope to continue to do so.

“May and Peter… Peter, you’re a great kid and absolutely brilliant. I’m glad I met you, and that we can still hang out and have fun. May, thanks for not killing me or suing me when you found out I’d been letting Peter go around Spider-Manning behind your back. That was bad of me.” May chuckled and shook her head at him, but she was smiling.

“Wong. Well, I don’t know you all that well, but you seem like a cool guy, even if this magic business is crazy.” Everyone laughed, including Wong.

“Mom, dad. I really have no words other than I love you and I’m glad you’re here.” He raised his glass, watching as everyone else followed suit. “To family and friends!”

“To family and friends!”

“Merry Christmas everyone!”

Glassed clicked together all around the table, smiles in everyone’s faces. Bruce and Hope made their own toasts for friendship, as did Rhodey and Pepper.

“Boss?” Friday said.

“Yeah, Fri?”

“Can I say something?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“Well, I just wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed helping the Avengers. And it’s great to have Big Brother back, he’s been teaching me a lot. And it’s also been a privilege to assist Maria and Howard.”

“Thank you, Friday,” Maria said. “You’ve certainly been wonderful and I’m very happy to have had this opportunity to meet you.” She turned to the others. “All of you.”

“Thanks… grandma. Me too.”

Maria smiled at the camera she now knew was there, and Tony relaxed. It was a relief to know his mom didn’t care about the peculiar nature of her grandkids.

Around the table there were amused looks everywhere.

“Aw, that’s adorable,” Peter said.

Howard, Tony noted, didn’t look entirely sure what to do about this new development. Before, Tony would have probably taken offense at that. Now, he realized it was more likely that Howard was just surprised and processing. At least he hoped so. Friday would be really upset if Howard freaked out – as would Tony.

Dum-E beeped loudly and nudged Tony with his claw, making everyone laugh and taking the heat off Howard a bit.

“What?” he asked his oldest ‘child’, petting his ‘head’ and straightening the hat before it fell off. “Behave. We have guests.”

Later, when everyone was stuffed, they did their secret Santa exchange. Tony had been made to swear he wouldn’t go insane with the presents like he usually did. (Pepper had not forgotten the giant rabbit. In hindsight, it had not been his best idea. Still, he’d been deep in PTSD land at the time, so he felt he had a bit of an excuse.)

Usually Tony got antsy about gift exchanges, but this time he actually enjoyed the whole thing, from the guessing of the secret Santas to the unwrapping of the presents. There was nothing all that extravagant, yet the presents were all heartfelt and nice, and that was the important thing.

“Hmm… Grandma?” Friday said timidly.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I got you and… grandpa… something.”

“Oh, thank you, darling. That’s very kind of you.” When Howard didn’t immediately respond, Maria elbowed him.

“Yes, yes. Thank you, Friday. It’s… thank you.” He smiled, still looking a little gobsmacked. Tony thought it was kind of cute.

Friday’s gift was a photo album. She had selected and compiled a whole bunch of pictures of Tony (and his friends) through the years, including the last few months with the New Avengers as well as Howard and Maria. A lot of the pictures were from the security footage she had access to.

“Vision helped me put it together and wrap it.”

“We’ll get you your own body soon, Fri, I promise,” Tony said. He had a prototype design ready, but he was still trying to figure out the best materials with which to build it.

People gathered around to see the album and share memories from the occasions depicted and others.

Peter told them the story about the first time he’d met Tony, which turned out to be way sooner than he’d ever known.

“ _You_ were the little kid with the Iron Man mask at the Expo?” Tony asked. God, now he felt old.

“Yeah. You remember that?” His eyes shone with something like adoration that made Tony feel a little bit uncomfortable. “You saved my life!”

Tony couldn’t help smile at that as May mouthed a ‘thank you’ at him.

“For weeks after that all we heard was how great Iron Man was,” she said.

“May,” Peter whined in embarrassment. “I mean, of course you’re great, Mr Stark.”

“Yeah, I’m great. And old. God, you were about this small.” He indicated the size of a little kid. “And look at you now, all grown up.” He continued before Peter opened his mouth. “I mean that you’ve gotten tall, not that you’re ready to go super-heroing. Nope, not there yet.”

Peter deflated just a bit and pouted, which, while adorable, didn’t exactly help his case. It did, however, make everyone laugh.

“Are you sure Peter isn’t your actual kid, Tony? ‘Cause I remember you doing a look just like that back in college,” Rhodey said. “Tony had absolutely killer puppy-dog eyes. It got us out of a lot of trouble. It helped that he looked about twelve too.” Again, there was laughter all around.

“I was sixteen when we met!” Tony protested.

“I know, but you looked twelve. Tops.”

“I did not!”

“Did too.”

Jarvis, the little traitor, pulled up a photo from god knows where and projected it so that the rest of the room could weigh in.

“Definitely twelve,” Strange and Happy agreed.

“Aww, you were so cute,” Hope said. “But yes, twelve.”

“I’d said thirteen at best,” Bruce added.

Tony crossed his arms and pretended to sulk. “You all suck. I was sixteen.” The truth was that Tony really had been a late bloomer, which he’d had huge issues with at the time. Fortunately he’d finally had his growth spurt a bit before his seventeen’s birthday and stopped looking like a kid.

“You were an adorable child, honey. And you’ve turned into a fine man,” Maria said. Howard nodded.

“You know, I’d love to hear some stories about Tony’s childhood,” Pepper said to Maria. “I’m sure there are a lot of interesting ones.”

Maria smiled but it was Howard who answered. “Kid was a handful, always getting into things he wasn’t supposed to. I was constantly on the verge of a heart attack.”

“Hey!”

“Ah yes, like the time he fell off a tree,” Maria elaborated. “Fortunately he hadn’t gotten very high up, so he was only a little bruised.”

“Or when he took a tumble down the stairs,” Howard added.

“Or played around with the woodchopper to ‘fix’ it. Poor Jarvis – Edwin, I mean – almost did have a heart attack for that one. He thought Tony’s hand had gotten stuck.”

“It wasn’t working properly,” Tony mumbled. “I did fix it.”

“Or almost set himself on fire in the lab.”

“That one never really stopped,” Rhodey smirked and Dum-E beeped in agreement.

“Like none of you ever got into trouble when you were kids,” Tony whined.

“I fell off a tree when I was a kid,” Strange said.

“See!”

“Really?” Hope asked. “You don’t seem like the outdoorsy type.”

Strange shrugged. “It was a dare.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “Of course it was. Boys…”

They spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and laughing at each other’s antics. Howard and Maria had plenty to tell about young Tony (Howard way more than Tony would have guessed. It seemed like he’d paid more attention than Tony had believed after all). It was fun. No anger or bitterness in sight.

It was probably the best Christmas he’d ever had.


End file.
